The Ashes 2015: SWOT Analysis of England Team

The Ashes 2015: SWOT Analysis of England Team: The Ashes is just a few days away and the first of the 5 tests will be starting from the 8^th of July. The English team will be dodged with confidence after winning the ODI series against New Zealand at home which was preceded by a 1-1 test series against the Kiwis. England named their 13-man squad for the first test at Cardiff just a few days back and there have been quite a few new names in it. Now, we are to discuss about the chances of the English team.

To cultivate a productive look into it, here is the SWOT Analysis of England Team:

Strengths:

• England can be severely dangerous on their home soils. They have managed to make things tough for New Zealand of late and they have a good history of winning at the home soils in the recent past.
• Some of the top order batsmen of England have been in brilliant form of late. These names include Alastair Cook, Joe Root and others. This will give an edge for the English team.
• Anderson and Broad have managed to utilize the fullest from the English pitches in the past and they do swing the ball decently well. So, home conditions will aid the English team in this regard.

Weaknesses

• England will be lacking a quality spinner. Moeen Ali will be there alongside Adil Rashid but the question lies upon the fact that how effective are they going to be.
• Inexperience might grow up to be a big factor. There are five players in the English squad in the likes of Adil Rashid, Adam Lyth, Mark Wood, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali who haven’t played an Ashes test. This might count in as a factor.

Opportunities

• Australia, being the visitors, needs to adjust to the English conditions and outfields which might be a positive for the England team.
• Of late, left arm pacer of Australia, Mitchell Johnson has not been in great form and this might well come handy for the English batsmen to pose further damages.

Threats

• Australian test side has performed extremely well of late. After Australia’s World Cup triumph, they managed to beat West Indies 2-0 in the test series in West Indies.
• Steve Smith has been in glamorous form all this while and has scored a century even in the warm up game in England.
• Alastair Cook’s captaincy has been criticized for a number of times due to some flaws. They can recur.
• Australian team is the favourite for the tournament as of now, and on the paper.

Also Read – Everything you need to know about the Ashes- A quick preview of the Ashes 2015